Pieces
by ArtsyAzn
Summary: One-Shot. Leo has discovered that his last connection to anything familiar, the head of his beloved dragon Festus, has been destroyed by Gaea during the final battle. He locks himself in a bunker for weeks, and nobody, much less Piper and Jason, knows what to do. Will Leo ever return to normal? T for mild swearing.


**A/N Hello there!**

**So, trying for something serious. For once in my life haha.**

**This is a one-shot, in case you were too lazy to read the summary! :D nah, but seriously, this is a one shot. This story has nothing to do with the Heroes of Olympus plot, I totally came up with this, and whatever. Love it, hate it, your choice. This idea came from my story "Rent-a-God", which references to this in the first chapter that I've written/published.**

**So I still don't write from Jason's POV cause he still kinda annoys me.**

**Have a good day!**

* * *

**Leo's POV**

I looked up at the ship, and immediately I knew something was wrong. The hull still seemed intact, and though ripped, so did the sails. The shields along the sides had held. The entire ship was leaning a bit to port, but it was still standing. So what was wrong?

I finally placed what was wrong, and when I did it was like everything in me crashed. Worse then someone yanking the rug out of under my feet. Worse then someone pulling the bottom card out of a card house.

Festus was missing.

I closed my eyes, and I could see him. Once, back when he was whole but broken, and I'd fixed him in time for our quest. Again, when he'd been ravaged and practically shredded during our quest. And lastly, on the front of the Argo II, where there was a big empty space.

This battle hadn't even been out worst, as far as casualties and overall damage. But it was almost as bad ad losing my mom; it was losing one of my best friends.

My eye caught something shining on the Roman ground, so I ran over and knelt. There were three scraps of bronze, each roughly the size of my hand, and a small piece of ruby no bigger than the end of my pinky finger. This was all that was left of my best friend. I gathered the pieces and shoved them into my tool belt.

"Leo? Leo!"

I stood up and walked around the hull to find Jason and Piper. Both of them were covered in dirt, streaming with sweat, and somehow their clothes were singed and torn. But worst of all were there faces when they read my expression. There was no curiosity or questions. It was simply pity.

"When?" I choked out.

"Um, right after we were smashing Gaea," Piper said. "She was going down, but she grabbed onto Festus to try to stay above but, uh, Festus wasn't prepared for that."

After that, nobody said anything to me, not even when we all returned to Camp Jupiter, and then after that when we had to go back to Camp Half-Blood. We had to ride the ship the whole way, and the whole way it felt like Hades himself had a iron-grip on my heart, squeezing it.

When we got to Camp, I didn't stop to go to my cabin or visit the forges. I went straight the the bunker and locked myself in.

* * *

**Piper's POV**

"Jason," I said, catching up to him. "Jason, Leo hasn't been out of the bunker since we got here last week. There's something wrong."

Jason gave me a nervous look. "Has it b-been a week al-already?" he wondered, fidgeting with the end of his shirt. "I haven't, um, seen him."

I sighed. "Maybe we should just leave him alone. But that doesn't seem right."

It was complicated sometimes, being friends with Leo. We were all related in some way or another; the gods had a lot of affairs with each other.

But Aphrodite and Hephaestus were married, and that made me Leo's step-sister of sorts, something I usually tried to ignore. But if Leo was in trouble, or vice-a-versa, then we'd help each other out. But it was weird, the whole ordeal ofAphrodite being with Ares. That would mean that Clarisse was also my step-sister...

"We c-can't get in th-though," Jason stuttered out.

I sighed, frustrated. "I know. And the only people who know how to get in, other than Leo that is, are either the Stoll twins or his siblings. And neither of them will help."

"They think w-we should just leave him a-alone?"

"Yeah. But I still feel like I should go check on him..." I trailed off, looking towards the forest, where deep inside, Leo was.

"You could try to, um, reason with him?"

I sighed again. "I've tried that! He's put up some sort of soundproofing."

"But checking-"

"I guess not."

And so, fifteen minutes later, we were standing outside of the little bunker. I bit my lip and tugged on the little braid in my hair, anxious to talk to Leo. He was just so... Out of it. The jokes, the smiles, the good-nature was gone. It'd been gone since Leo had discovered Festus gone...

Jason knocked on the door. The sound resounded in the silence, and after a while, I sighed in defeat.

"It's no use," I told him, frowning. I turned and started walking bak to Camp. "He won't talk to anyone."

We started walking back, but suddenly we heard a yell. It was faint, but familiar. I exchanged a worried look with Jason before running back towards the bunker, drawing my dagger.

"Leo?" I shouted, entering the clearing where the bunker was. The area was just as we left it: nothing had really changed. "Leo?"

Another yell came from the inside of the bunker, not completely concealed by the soundproofing. The door shot open, a figure rammed into me. I fell hard, my breath leaving with a audible whoosh. I lay there, gasping, but not for my breath.

Standing in the doorway of the bunker, glowing ruby eyes fixed on me, was Festus.

* * *

"I'm so sorry Piper," Leo apologized for the hundredth time.

I sighed, and then winced. "It's okay. You didn't do anything. It was Festus."

"Festus II," Leo corrected me. I raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged. "I used what was left of Festus and did some magic and made Festus II."

"He doesn't seem like a very Happy dragon," I muttered, and Leo laughed weakly, faintly embarrassed.

"I just completed him. I turned him on right when you guys showed up. He was, ah, not happy that I was giving him hot sauce and oil. I guess this Festus is different from the other one. He flung me out of the bunker."

"And then c-crushed Piper," Jason added unhelpfully, and Leo nodded.

"Yeah. I guess Festus II was too anxious to meet the Beauty Queen," Leo joked, smiling at my sour expression. But inside, I was so glad that Leo had started to become himself. Maybe Festus - Festus II - was what Leo needed.

* * *

**(After "The Wrong Date")**

"Well, Beauty Queen and Sparky are all together," Leo muttered to himself, tossing the personality changer like a tennis ball. "Now what to do with this?"

He was sitting in the bunker, Festus II circled around one of the work counters like a big metal cobra. Smoke filtered out of his nose in small puffs, and his big tail swinging back and forth, stirring up the dust on the floors.

Leo watched the sleeping dragon and sighed. "Well, at least you're good for cleaning this place," he told him. Chiron had instructed Leo to keep Festus II in the bunker: he was as bad as the original Festus, eating satyrs and all. Except that Festus II had more of a taste for curry then hot sauce, though to Leo, they tasted pretty much the same.

Suddenly Leo froze, and the personality changer seemed to hear up a hundred degrees in his palm. He glanced briefly to make sure it wasn't on fire before setting it on the counter next to him and staring at it.

He'd fixed Festus's personality by rewiring his controls. But Leo had created Festus II without any mistakes in the wiring.

So maybe Festus II would react to the personality changer a little bit differently then Jason had. Maybe he would act more like a dog than a dragon. But anything was better than having to keep his dragon stuck in a bunker all the time.

He silently grabbed the supplies he needed and attached the personality changer to the metal beast's control. He pressed the small, almost invisible button and watched the wires inside whir and glow as they reacted with the controls.

Abruptly, it shut off, and Leo felt Festus II heat up beneath him as he woke up.

Festus II whirred his teeth and gnashed them together. His eyes glowed, zeroed in on him.

Leo took a step back, and Festus II closed the gap in a step. Leo's face was inches away from Festus II's deadly teeth.

Suddenly, the dragon collapsed, falling to the floor with a crash. Leo yelped, "Shit!" and jumped onto the nearest counter. He saw the Festus II shudder once, violently, before his ruby eyes glowed with life again. Leo sighed in relief. "Festus II?" he asked tentatively.

Festus II gave him a hurt look before he curled up in the corner. Leo decided it was safe to get down and he patted Festus II on the head. "Hey, buddy."

Festus II whirred his teeth, and Leo grinned. "Sorry about that. I hate to do that to you, but it's kind of necessary. How about we go for a fly?"

Five minutes later, they were airborne, flying high above the forest. As they gained altitude, Leo kept his hands on the control panel, keeping it warm so that it wouldn't freeze and they'd fall in a Leo-and-Festus II-pancake.

They landed in front of the bunker, and Leo was surprised to see Piper standing in front of the bunker by herself. "Saw you flying Festus II," she said, nodding at the Festus in question.

Leo grinned. "Man, it was so awesome! It was all like, cold up there, but we could see like everything!"

Piper smiled at his enthusiasm, her eyes closer to a golden brown then their usual green. "That sounds fun," she murmured, sounding wistful.

Leo cleared his throat self consciously. "Um, you wanna ride him with me?"

Piper raised her eyebrows. "Really? But, what if he tries to attack me again?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "You're going to be on his back, Beauty Queen. He'd have to want to kill himself to try to hurt you."

Piper grinned. "Alright then."

They both climbed onto Festus II's back. "Ready?" Leo asked, and Piper nodded, wrapping her arms around Leo to hold on. "Then let's go," Leo murmured.

And they took off.


End file.
